The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-01-19
BLEEDING HEART YARD.
Destruction of n London Landmark Made
Famous by Dickens.
IChambers' Journal


With the demolition of Bleeding Heart
Yard, many pilgrim to London will have
one goal the less. But it has been too graph
ically pictured in "Little Dorrit" ever to be
forgotten. OF all Dickens many sketches of
the London slums, this is one of the best, al
though it requires imaginative powers now
to recognize here any "relish OF ancient
greatness" The mighty stacks CT chin
neys," now much the worse for wear, are
still here, and still ''give the Yard a charsc-
ter" But the poor people who had fam
lily sentimental feeling about the Yard have
nearly all fitted, like rats from a sinking
ship. Indeed, piles of massive warehouses,
which have sprung up on all sides. have
already almost sTsmped their habitations;
and any one seeing them in the gray gloam-
ing of a wet winter afternoon will have some
difficulty in devising pleas for their preser-
walton. The YardEis altogether dresry and
unlovely, now that it is deserted save for a
couple of workshops, which, possibly, have
replaced the factory OF Daniel Doyce. A
few carriers carts and costers' barrows, too,
seem to haze been left here by accident.
But for the most part the picture
is one of dilapidated desolation. The
three stored broWn-brick houses with their
low-pitched, red-tiled roofs, that run down
the southern side, seem to have been the
scene OF an explosion or contiagration; or,
possibly, they may have been besieged by an
army of urchins. Anyhow, not a pane of
glass remains in the windows, which were
probably cut through the wall at odd times,
when wanted, and, but for tattered fringe
which still decoretes the frames, they might
never have been glazed. Some of the cart
sheds and stables which form the ground
foor-to use an appellation that properly be-
longs to suburban villas-have been con-
verted into shops, but bear no signs of ever
having done>a thriving trade, and it is easy
to believe that the Yard, Though as willing
a yard as any in Britain" was never the
better for any demand for labor"
For Bleeding Heart Yard no very heroic
etymology can be claimed. Dickens, it is to
be feared, drew largely on his Imagination,
which he doubtless found served him in bet
ter stead than any number of old folIos, for
his amusing derivations. Except in, Little
Dorrit," there seems to be but scanty
authority for the tradition that this was the
sceneo of murder. 1t is, however, beyond dis
pute that Ely place and the adjacent streets
were occupied by the luxurious town palace
of the bishops of Ely. Within the walls were
included twenty acres OF ground. This was,
about the year 1917, sold to Christopher
Hatton by the Bishop of Ely, who was, how
ever, only mace to carry out the contract by
Elizabeth's memorable threat that other
wise she would Untrock him. twas here
that the famous Chancellor died in 1891.
But his house and garden do not seem 10
have been demolished until the middle of
the seventeenth century, for Evelyn, writing
in 1863, tells US how he went to see 1.-THE
foundations now laying for long street aud
buildings in Hatton Garden, designed for
little town, lately an ample garden" OF a
certain Lady Hatton. probably the wife OF
Sir Cbristopher's great-nephew, it is gravely
recorded that she had a compact with the
evil one, and that on the night
when this came to an end
that parsonage, in the guise of a cavalier,
attended certain festivities which were
being held at Hatton place, and, having lured
her into the garden, tore her in pieces-her
bleeding heart being afterward found. But
il this weird legend had even so solid foun-
dation as a murder, it is probsble that some
record of it would have survived. Little
DOTTitt" is also the authority for the story of
the young lady who was so closely imprls-
oned in her chamber here by her cruel lathe
for refusing to marry the sutton he had
chosen for her. The legend related how the
young lady used to be seen up st her win
DOW, behind the bars, murmurlng lovelorn
song, of which the burden was, bleeding
heart, bleeding heart, bleeding away" until
she died.
1t will be remembered that, although the
Yard was divided in opinion, this story car
ried the day by q great majority, notTith-
standing that it was supposed to have origi-
mated with "a tambour-Worker, q spiHster
and romantic" living in the Yard. 1t is
scarcely necessary to say the point has re-
ceived the attention of the seekers after
miscellaneous knowledge, and a number of
alternative derivations have been suggested.
One learned antiquary, for instance, re-
minds US that "bleediDg heart" is the name
of the red wali.hoWer in certain parts
of England, but omits to point out
the connection. The most plausible Is the
suggestion that the court may have taken its
name from a hostel known as the Bleeding
Hart" and it is well known that sign paint
ers frequently prove shaky in their orthog-
Taphy. Thus, be records that in Warwick
shire an inn known as the "White HART
was, some years since, adorned with q sign
board representing a human heart, or, at
least. an ace of hearts. Then, some people
cling TO the belief that the sign of the Bleed
ing Heart dates from pre- Reformation times,
and is emblematical of the five sorrowful
mysteries of the rosary. We must leave 1t to
others to reconcile these conflicting theories.
But for its associations with the fortunes
of Little Dorrit," the bare existence OF the
court would certainly have remained in
oblivion, and its demolition would have eX-
cited no unusual regret. But there are those
for whom the Yard has been associated with
the history of q set of very real percentages.
Hither many folk have gone in search of
'the domicile of PiOrnish, plasterer," and
have sought to identify 1.-THE parlor" in
which the PloTnish family lived. and which
was pointed out TO callers by 1.-The painted
hand on the forefinger of which the
artist had depicted ring, aud most elab-
crate nail of the genteelest form" Here,
too, they have probably pictured for them
selveJ the patriarch, floating ssrenely
through the Yard in the forenoon" with
the express purpose Of getting o." trustful'
ness in his shining bdmps aud slAsn locks,
| to be succeeded few hours later by Paucks,
| that prince of rent collectors, who, 'perspir'
ing and putting and darting about in eccen
| trio directions, and becoming hotter and DIN
| gier every moment, dashed the tide of the
| Yard into the most sgitated and turbid state. "
| They may have further looked for the small
| grocery and general dealers shop cat the
| crack end of the Yard, where Mrs. Plornish
was established by Mr.. Dorrit; and fol
Happy Cottage that most wonderful o.
| interiors. And they may have wondered
| whereabouts was the spot where Panck:
| tackled the patriarch, shipped all short the
sacred locks and cut down the broad
| brimmed hat to a stew-pan, thereby con
| verting the venerable Casby, that frst-rat'
| humbug of a thousand guns" into "a bare
| nolled popele.eved phantom